NASA Completes early tests of mini nuclear fission Reactor which could Power human Settlements on Ma

[hunter]

24. It's an interesting machine using heat pipes and a Stirling engine.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ns_kilopower_fs_180111.pdf

I'm enthusiastic about space exploration but I don't see any reason to put humans in space beyond low earth orbit.

Our robots keep getting better and better and space is an extremely hostile environment for humans.

"The Martian" is an enjoyable movie, but the environment of Mars is much more difficult than the movie depicted. Beyond low earth orbit radiation (x-rays, gamma rays, high energy particles...) cause significant damage to the human body. People traveling to and living on the Moon or Mars, or on deep space stations, will suffer shorter lifespans and poorer health.

I doubt humans will ever have a significant presence beyond Earth, but maybe our intellectual offspring will, for example, artificial intelligences with robotic bodies, creatures that can walk around on the surface of the Moon or Mars or crawl around the outside of a spacecraft naked, powered by fission reactors like this.